on our broadcast tonight from washington, changing of the guard. republicans take back power in the house. there's a new congress, a new speaker. and some other changes are coming. whose fault was the worst environmental disaster in history? tonight, there's been leak of a final report assessing blame for the gulf coast oil leak. rewrithistory. a few choice erased from one of the great american novels. should the classics be changed for modern times? and the gift of a golden voice. a homeless man with talent and an incredible story that just got even better. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television

and good evening. following what was a big day here in washington, the 112th congress is now under way, and there is a new speaker of the house. republican john boehner of ohio was today joined by 10 of his 11 siblings. the ten-term congressman from humble beginnings and blue collar roots today became the 53rd speaker of the house in u.s. history. he received the gavel from now former speaker nancy pelosi, and in keeping with the gravity of the ceremony, the new speaker's now famous overflowing emotions briefly did just that when his wife and family were introduced to the packed chamber. this first day of the new congress is the first official day of divided government and republican control of the house. now the real work begins. we begin our coverage of all of it tonight with our capitol hill correspondent kelly o'donnell. kelly, good evening.

>> reporter: good evening, brian. john boehner talked about today's transfer of the gavel as a reminder of how temporary this power can be. he's been in congress for 20 years, waiting to become mr. speaker. the biggest day of john boehner's career started with a workout at the gym and cameras lined up outside his home. >> thumbs up and the american people are in charge. >> reporter: the people sent more than 100 new members to serve in this 112th congress. >> i do take this obligation freely. >> reporter: including 63 new house republican seats. today, children and families were given special permission to be on the house floor. among them, former vice president dan quayle, whose son ben is now an arizona congressman. democrats appeared just as eager to get their photos with the new speaker. boehner's trademark tears welled up when nancy pelosi acknowledged his wife and family. after four years as the nation's first woman speaker of the house, pelosi listed democrats'

accomplishments under her watch. >> with the greatest consumer protections in history and passed a strong patient's bill of rights. >> reporter: then turned the page. >> i now pass this gavel and the sacred trust that goes with it to the new speaker. god bless you, speaker boehner. [ cheers and applause ] >> reporter: boehner spoke of both tradition -- >> that includes this gavel, which i accept cheerfully and gratefully, knowing i am but its caretaker. after all, this is the people's house. >> reporter: -- and change in how congress works, pledging more openness and less spending. >> legislators in the public will have three days to read a bill before it comes to a vote. >> reporter: across the capitol, where democrats remain in charge -- >> do you swear that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states?

>> reporter: vice president biden welcomed 16 new senators. 10 of them republicans. a page turned here, as well. for the first time in 64 years, no member of the kennedy family holds a federal office. and celebrated today, maryland's barbara mccullski has served longer than any woman in history, beginning her 25th year in the senate today. republicans will make largely symbolic moves, reading every word of the constitution on the house floor tomorrow and next week trying to repeal the president's health care law, which certainly won't pass in the senate. brian? >> kelly o'donnell on the hill tonight after a big day there. kelly, thanks. tomorrow, we sit down with an exclusive interview with the new speaker, john boehner. his first interview as speaker. it will air tomorrow night here on "nightly news." there are other changes here in washington, like the new chairman of the house committee on oversight and government reform.

it's also called the watchdog committee. california republican darrell issa is coming across like, well, an angry watchdog. our report from nbc's andrea mitchell. >> reporter: he's a new cop on the beat. darrell issa, the republican's top watchdog, potentially the obama administration's worst nightmare. even before the election, he put president obama on notice, telling rush limbaugh -- >> he's been one of the most corrupt presidents in modern times. >> reporter: today, a very different tone. >> i've got a president who inherently wants to get along with me so we can agree on things. >> reporter: but he's laid out an ambitious agenda, investigating wikileaks, fannie mae, the stimulus program and the bank bailout. as many as 280 hearings in the first year. and he's already sent more than 150 letters to industry lobbyists, asking which regulations they would like killed?

>> they must be extremely happy to have in the chairman of the committee someone who basically says, come on down, show me what you don't like. >> reporter: issa's spokesman maintains that's no different than president obama holding a summit with industry leaders, or considering a chief of staff with ties to business. but issa also plans to ask officials like tom donilon to testify. that reminds veterans of the clinton years of former oversight chairman dan burton when he had issa's job. >> i know, but what i can't understand is why you can't give us an answer. >> it doesn't matter whether the question is political, ridiculous, if there's a subpoena attached to it, you're required by law to produce the documents it asks for. >> reporter: the democrats have had the gavel. now the tables are turned. >> the biggest pitfall would be if these investigations are perceived as being witch hunts and political in nature as opposed to focused on substance and policy. >> reporter: andrea mitchell,

nbc news, washington. and across town at the white house, preparations are under way for a new kind of part two of the obama administration, with new people coming in, and we learned today at least one well-known name departing. white house correspondent savannah guthrie on duty with more from there tonight. savannah, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. as we've been reporting all week, there are a lot of comings and goings here. first of all, bill daley, who is being seriously considered to be the new white house chief of staff. the former clinton commerce secretary was here today, meeting with the president and senior staff, a decision on that could be imminent. and press secretary robert gibbs, as expected, said today he will leave likely in early february. he will still be an outside paid consultant to the white house but he said today some changes at the top will bring some fresh perspective. >> i think having new voices and having fresh voices, some of those voices that are coming back from having taken a couple of years off, are an important

part of this process. i would not trade the worst day i've had here for many of the best days that you might have in another job. >> reporter: we also learned today that the president will name the replacement for larry summers, that top economic adviser on friday. the leading contender said to be gene spurling. >> savannah guthrie at the white house tonight. savannah, thanks. to pull this all together, the moderator of "meet the press," david greg wri and our chief white house correspondent chuck todd, both with us here in the studio. david, to begin with, the new speaker, john boehner, was it me or was there a lot of conciliatory language in his speech, which by the way was shorter as he came into office than nancy pelosi's was in leaving office. >> i think you're right, i think there was. part of it was the emotion of the day. he's an emotional guy. that's all going to end real fast. the cross currents right now are within the republican party. they're even bigger than what's

going to happen with the democrat party. you're going to see an immediate vote on health care repeal and off we go. republicans are going to go after the obama agenda. they're going to go after spending. they're going to go after the debt and they've got to deal with the tea party, let alone a democratic white house. >> chuck todd, rog robert gibbs may now be the happiest man in washington. the expression, spend more time with your family, sometimes a euphemism, but he has a young family and has had a grueling job. elsewhere at the white house, looking for a brand name manager perhaps to come. >> this bill daley thing seems to be moving quickly. could be as early as tomorrow or maybe later this week. but it's going to transform things a little bit. this is going to be somebody -- by the way, bill daley and the president, despite the daley name and the chicago connections, they don't personally have much of a relationship. that's part of the reason why this has been a slower process than maybe folks thought. some thought bill daley would have been named weeks ago, but the two are trying to get to know each other. but he's going to bring a little different management style than

rahm emanuel even did, spending as much time focused on outside democratic officials outside of washington. the first two years of the obama presidency were about running washington. these next two years are about getting re-elected and being more responsive outside of washington. >> chuck todd, we'll look for your tomorrow morning on msnbc. david gregory, sunday on "meet the press." our thanks for leting us borrow your home. thanks, gentlemen. as we said earlier, also here in washington, tonight there's been a leak regarding a leak. while it wasn't quite due to be out yet, the final report ordered by the white house finding fault and assessing blame for the huge oil spill off louisiana in 2010 is now out. and there is plenty of blame to go around the oil industry. our chief environmental affairs correspondent anne thompson is here in washington with us tonight. anne, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. the commission blames the disaster on what it calls a failure of industry management. it says nine decisions made on the deep water horizon rig saved

time but actually increased risk. among them, decisions involving the cement and the equipment used in the well. it also cites the final test of that well, the negative pressure test, and it says it was misread, and that was a major contributing factor to the explosion that killed 11 workers and coated the gulf coast in oil. in an exclusive tv interview this afternoon, commission co-chair william riley says all three companies, bp, transocean and halliburton, bear responsibility. >> three companies, which are among the largest in the world, which are omnipresent in virtually all of the oil bearing seas around the world, had severe problems, which suggest to me if they have them here, they probably have them elsewhere. therefore, it's a problem the entire industry should pay attention to. >> reporter: most of all, the commission says this accident was preventable. but it could happen again unless

the industry and government regulators take significant steps to make deep water drilling safer. brian? >> anne thompson with what is a breaking environmental story tonight here in washington. anne, thanks. a big mystery in the natural world has shifted overseas. more dead birds have turned up. this time in sweden, just days after thousands of birds fell from the sky in this country. first in arkansas, then in louisiana. the birds found in sweden, about 50 of them so far, are called jack dawes. one news website points out in both the arkansas and sweden cases, there were fireworks before the birds were found. others, however, don't buy that theory at all. in both cases, we're told the weather was humid and cold. experts here and overseas are still working, trying to nail down what's at the root of this mystery that so many people are talking about. the explosive growth of china as a world player and a

world power now apparently includes the development of a stealth fighter. aviation blogs have been covering it closely and publishing pictures, though they've all been blocked from the web in china itself. it's a single pilot twin engine prototype, apparently in the preflight testing stage. it borrows an appearance from many american made fighters and it's big, about the size of the old cold war era f-111 jet. when "nightly news" continues from washington in a moment, the debate over an effort to change an american classic by mark twain. is it possible it's outdated for today's times and today's schools? later, the story that rocketed around the web. a homeless man with a gift who needed a break. tonight, we've got good news. needed a break. tonight, we've got good news. had a heart attack caused by a completely blocked artery, another heart attack could be lurking, waiting to strike. a heart attack that's caused by a clot,

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as you may have heard, there's a big debate over an american classic that had been required reading for generations of american students. mark twain's "adventures of huckleberry fin." now there's a new version that leaves out one particular word that is used more than 200 times in the original work. nbc's mike taibbi has more on the controversial editing of this american masterpiece. >> reporter: it's the rich tale of the adventures and friendships shared by two characters, one white, one black, in the pre civil war south. but because they use the n word, the book and companion stories of tom sawyer, have often made the american library association's list of the most frequently banned american classics, alongside "to kill a

mocking bird" and "of mice and men." now professor allen gribbon, a twain scholar, is releasing a new version with the n word replaced, 218 times with the word "slave." >> many students do not read mark twain in their public school education and this might rectify that. >> ain't going to find my remainders. >> no, no. >> reporter: hollywood has offered sanitized versions and the version of the book has drawn support. >> i think the likelihood of teachers using it in a classroom might be enhanced given that particular word is out. >> reporter: but professor me lessa harris said the original book, with that toxic word in tact, should be studied for the lessons twain intended. >> there can be camaraderie without equality, that there are these challenging relationships. that's just what the book is asking us to do. >> reporter: some opponents of political correctness applaud the idea, making the masterpiece more widely available but say

altering the text isn't the way to do it. welcome mcgowan, author of "coloring the news," says pressuring the book banners makes more sense. >> how can we have a candid discussion about race if you can't read books that have the words that reflect the antagonism? >> reporter: questions on the debate once again as huck and jim travel our way one more time. mike taibbi, nbc news, new york. up next here tonight, how spilled coffee in the cockpit of a jumbo jet set off some major consequences. of jumbo jet set off major consequences.

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then inside the newspaper were other presidents who have been deemed even worse vacation fashion offenders by some. including george w. bush in black socks with the presidential seal, and black crocks. president clinton in let's call them period shorts, and richard nixon trying to dodge the ocean water in his shoes and socks. more royal wedding details are out, including some important details for the uk audience, including the fact that kate middleton will arrive at the ceremony by car, but the couple will depart by horse and carriage. the queen will host the reception. prince charles is throwing a kind of after party, a dinner and dancing afterwards. all costs, except for security, are being paid by the royal family and the middletons. no honeymoon plans released. starting in march, about 5 million americans every day will notice a change in what has become one of the most

ubiquitous american consumer products of our time, the starbucks logo is changing. starbucks is keeping the sea siren woman with the flowing hair but dropping the words from its logo. they say it's a more streamline look that better reflects their expansion and the products beyond coffee and into markets beyond the u.s. and coffee is being blamed for the grounding of a jumbo jet. the pilot of a united 777 wide body from chicago to frankfurt, germany, had to make an emergency landing in canada monday night after he dropped his coffee on the plane's radio, which then triggered a radio squawk that signals a hijacking in progress. united would only admit to a communications issue, and the flight's 255 passengers were eventually taken back to chicago and put on another plane to germany. up next as we continue here tonight, a stunning reversal of fortune for a man with a great

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touched by it. a very compelling story about a very compelling man. a homeless man in ohio, who has survived some bad times, and he's come out the other end and he's been walking around with something of a gift for years. which you'd only know once you talked to him and heard his voice. tonight, our own kevin tibbles picks up the story of the man with the golden voice. >> reporter: just another panhandler by the interchange. but his sign said, i have a god-given gift of voice. so the reporter from "the columbus dispatch" rolled down his window. >> say something with that great radio voice. >> when you listen to nothing but the best of oldies, you're listening to magic 98.9. >> reporter: within hours, that video went viral, more than 5 million hits on youtube alone. >> i shoot a lot of things and nothing has quite stuck like this has. >> reporter: the man in the video is 52-year-old ted williams from brooklyn, new york, homeless ten years. he says he always wanted to be a

broadcaster, but -- >> alcohol and drugs and a few other things became part of my life. >> reporter: clean now for two years, williams says he somehow living and begging by a columbus highway. but no more. >> every weekday morning. >> perfect, man. >> reporter: from the side of the road to inside the studios of local radio, where many callers offered williams employment. >> we would like to offer you a voice package of up to $10,000 contract. >> reporter: even a mortgage. >> i just didn't know anything like this would happen. >> reporter: one call came from 150 miles up the highway, from the nba's cleveland cavaliers, who offered him a job. >> we loved his voice and story and our biggest priority is to get him in here. >> reporter: some people say life is a highway. well, for the moment any way, ted williams is in the fast lane. >> it's like zero to 100 miles per hour in about a second. >> we'll be back with more right after these words. >> reporter: with a voice like

that, no doubt he will. kevin tibbles, nbc news, chicago. >> more on his great story tomorrow morning on "today." for us, for now, that's our broadcast for this wednesday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. we're reporting tonight from our nbc news washington bureau. we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. fighting the war against eyesores. san jose had taggers on the run, but the city is now on the verge of a graffiti free for all. good evening, everyone, i'm jessica aguirre. >> and i'm tom sinkovitz. taggers are busy in the south bay painting more graffiti on walls and windows and now the bay area's largest city might get rid of the teams that c